Table 4.
Summary of nanocomposite hydrogels from hydrogels and polymeric NPs or liposomes for biomedical applications.
| Fillers | Hydrogels | Applications and Functions | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| PLGA particles or NPs | PVA | Loading and delivery of biomacromolecular drugs; PLGA can increase drug loading and decrease burst release; Hydrogel can prevent the foreign body reaction(FBR), promote angiogenesis around subcutaneous implants and extend the lifetime of implantable biosensors | [375,376] |
| Drug delivery; PVA hydrogel acts as a hydrophilic base to support the microspheres; PLGA microspheres serve as drug reservoirs to continuously drug release | [377,378,379,380,381] | ||
| ALG | Drug delivery; Maintain consistent release of rhBMP-2; Improve bone formation and osseous integration | [382] | |
| PuraMatrixTM peptide | Drug delivery; PuraMatrixTM peptide hydrogel as vaccine adjuvants to recruit and activate immune cells | [383] | |
| F127 | Drug delivery; Sustained release of protein drugs; Temper burst release and prolong delivery of drugs at the site of a spinal cord injury | [384,385] | |
| P407 | Tissue engineering; Preserve protein structure and integrity, allowing a better and prolonged release profile and the maintenance of their biological activity. Hydrogel further protected it from the hydrophobic environment | [386] | |
| ALG | Cell-based tissue engineering; Offer a continuous and localized release of drug; Provide a physical support for microcapsules, facilitating administration, ensuring retention and recuperation and preventing dissemination; Reduce post-transplantation inflammation and foreign body reaction, thus prolonging the lifetime of the implant | [387] | |
| PEI-PEGDA | Drug delivery; Hydrogels are used for carrying dual or multi-molecular compounds and releasing them in a bimodal, sequential manner | [388] | |
| HAMC | Drug delivery; HAMC hydrogel is well-tolerated, having a minimal inflammatory response; NPs offer sustained release while the HAMC gel localizes the NPs at the site of injection | [389,390,391,392,393,394,395] | |
| PAM | Antivirulence treatment of local bacterial infection; RBC-coated NPs is an effective detoxification platform against bacterial infections; Hydrogels preserve the structural integrity and the functionalities of the contained NPs and offer additional engineering flexibility to improve the therapeutic efficacy | [396] | |
| MC | Drug delivery; Particle localization, decreases initial burst, and further prolongs release | [397] | |
| GG | Sustained local delivery of drug; For the local treatment of osteoporosis and other bone tissue disorder; Improve the low bioavailability and decrease the high toxicity of sodium alendronate | [398] | |
| PNIPAM | Drug delivery; PLGA used for the isolation of the drug, a slower drug-release rate, and the achievement of different drug release profiles | [399] | |
| PAMAM | Drug delivery; The residence time of pilocarpine can be prolonged by hydrogel; PLGA nanoparticles are safe for delivery of ophthalmic agents and are capable of sustained delivery of antiglaucoma agents | [400] | |
| Fmoc-peptide | Drug delivery and tissue engineering; Peptide hydrogel will likely be more stable in vivo; Sustained release of drug | [401] | |
| DBM-BHPEA NPs | Silicone | Protect the eyes from UV rays; Increase the pore size, allowing the particles to diffuse into the lenses. | [402] |
| HPMC-PEG NPs | Branched PAA | Drug delivery; Optimize drug therapies in which the release of hydrophobic compounds; Selectively direct to specific cell lines; Able to stay localized at the injection site | [403] |
| Silk fibroin particles | Silk fibroin | Tissue engineering; Offering well suited rheological features for injectability, and shape conformability into defect sites as well as controlled delivery rate | [404] |
| PHBV NPs | GG | Drug delivery; Minimally invasive administration and the controlled delivery of the active agent | [405] |
| PEG-PLA NPs | HPMC | Drug delivery; Shear-thinning and self-healing properties; Dual loading of a hydrophobic molecule into the NPs and a second hydrophilic molecule into the aqueous bulk of the gel, and thus enabled simultaneous release of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drug in vivo from a single gel. | [406] |
| PPy NPs | ALG | Drug delivery and tissue engineering; PPy is stable in solution over the period of a month, and have good drug loading capacity; Localized depot releasing systems; Pulsatile releasing behaviors and maintain morphology and mechanical strength. | [407,408] |
| PHBHHx NPs | CS/GP | Drug delivery; Relatively strict control of long-term insulin release | [409] |
| PGT NPs | Silicone | Drug delivery in eye; Increase patient compliance and the bioavailability; Increase the release duration from the contact lenses; Establish safety and efficacy of glaucoma therapy by extended wear of nanoparticle loaded contact lenses | [410] |
| CS NPs | GX | Scaffold system for dual growth factor delivery in bone regeneration; Develop an in situ gelling biomaterial combining the viscoelasticity of natural polymers with the powerful antimicrobial properties of chitosan | [411] |
| PMMA NPs | Polysaccharide-PAA | Drug delivery; Hydrogels can remain localized at the site of injection, showing high biocompatibility and good ability to provide short term delivery. PMMA based NPs can be traced both in vitro and in vivo biological studies over a long period of time without side effects due to the biodegradation process | [412] |
| PβAE NPs | PAMAM-DEX | siRNA delivery; High transfection efficiency and low cytotoxicity; Sustained delivery of the siRNA; Enhance the stability of the NPs | [413] |
| PLA particles | PECE | Drug delivery and tissue engineering; Increase the thickness of the corium; Increase cell adhesion of microspheres | [414] |
| PAMAM dendrimer | CS-PEG | Drug delivery; Dendrimer was used to increase the solubility, loading efficiency and homogeneity of hydrophobic drug; Hydrogel provide a local drug delivery depot for a prolonged drug release | [415] |
| COL | Drug delivery; Dendrimer can improve the biostability and structural integrity of COL, which can make COL have higher denature temperature and resistance against collagenase digestion | [416] | |
| HA | Biofabrication; Form a fast cross-linking hydrogel; Improved the cell viability, proliferation, and attachment | [417] | |
| PEG-LA-DA | Tissue engineering; The multiple cross-linking sites present on the dendrimers can increase the cross-linking density at lower concentrations; The spherical dendrimers may provide discrete “molecular islands” in the network to limit swelling and improve mechanical properties; The multiple end-groups on the dendrimers facilitate the introduction of functional groups into the system at the nanoscale level | [418] | |
| Carbopol 980 | Drug delivery; PAMAM dendrimers strongly affects their influence on the improvement of solubility and antifungal activity of drug | [419] | |
| PEG | Tissue engineering and drug delivery; Hydrogel crosslinked with dendrimers, showing improved cytocompatibility, controlled swelling and degradation | [420] | |
| Solid lipid NPs | Poloxamer | Drug delivery; NPs can increase gel strength and mucoadhesive force; Easy to administer rectally; Gelled rapidly inside the body; Increased dissolution rate of the drug; Reduced initial burst effect | [421] |
| Liposomes | PAM | Drug delivery and antibacterial; Hydrogel can stabilize liposomes against fusion and preserves the structural integrity of the liposomes; The hydrogel formulation allows for controllable viscoeleasticity and tunable liposome release rate | [422] |
| Peptide | Tissue regeneration; Liposomes can enhance binding of growth factors to peptide fibers of the gel matrix and achieve delayed release; Bimodal drug release | [423] | |
| HA | Drug delivery; Strengthen the network formed by HA chains, high efficiency encapsulation, easily injectable and less invasive, delay and control the release of drugs for local delivery | [424,425,426,427] | |
| PNIPAM | Drug delivery; The intact liposomes with their content can be controlled to release from hydrogel by changing the temperature, which can be used for temperature-triggered on-demand delivery | [428] | |
| PVA | Tissue engineering; Hydrogel can retain the structural integrity and contents of liposomes | [429] | |
| PVP-PAA-PBMA | Drug delivery, Hydrogel can ensure liposomes original vesicle structure; Liposomes can improve viscoelastic features and drug release profiles | [430] | |
| Micelles | PECA | Drug delivery; Improve docetaxel solubility and permeability; The pH-responsive hydrogel controlled the micelles diffusion excellently in intestinal environment, thus achieving the target delivery of drug-loaded micelles to small intestine and significantly improvement of the oral bioavailability of docetaxel | [431] |
| PEG-PCL-PEG | Drug delivery and wound dressing; High drug loading and encapsulation efficiency; Improve combined curcumin solubility and permeability; Exhibit excellent wound healing activity and promote tissue reconstruction processes | [432] | |
| Agarose | Drug delivery; Achieve functional hydrogels capable of stimulus-triggered drug release | [433] | |
| PEG | Gene delivery; The incorporation of the nanosized micelles provided an excellent mean to tune physical properties of the hydrogels, such as increasing porosity and tunable mechanical property of the hydrogels and providing the best balance among hydrogel stiffness and porosity for cell survival | [434] | |
| Nanogels or microgels | PEG | Tissue engineering; Hydrogel can control the degradation and release of nanogels; Possess relatively strong mechanical properties, biodegradability; Nanogels can trap proteins by hydrophobic interactions; Sustainedly release proteins in their native form | [435] |
| PAM | Obtain macroscopic hydrogels with a fast response to external stimuli; Obtain strong hydrogel matrixes and composite gels with an internal structure | [436] | |
| PEG | Drug delivery; Multidrug delivery system; High drug loading and encapsulation efficiency; Encapsulate various hydrophobic substances | [437] | |
| DEX | Drug delivery; Both proteins and poorly water-soluble low-molecular-weight drugs can be efficiently encapsulated in the nanogels; Eliminating the initial burst release; Offer a maximum pharmacological efficiency at a minimum drug dose, reducing administration frequency and improving patient compliance | [438] | |
| Carbohydrate | Drug delivery; Improve loading or prolong delivery of a target drug; Prevent migration of the microgels from target sites; Provide an additional diffusive barrier for drug release; Reducing burst release effects and prolonging drug release kinetics | [439] | |
| CHP nanogel | Hyaluronan | Drug delivery; Minimize denaturation by trapping the protein in a hydrated polymer network; Simultaneously achieved both simple drug loading and controlled release with no denaturation of the protein drugs | [440] |
| Vesicles | CS | Functional biomaterials; The vesicle serves as reversible “dynamic” crosslinks that hydrophobic chains can be either embedded into the bilayers of vesicle or pulled out; Vesicles can afford multi-action sites for hydrophobic interaction, indicating that the self-healing rate of such a hydrogel would be much faster | [441] |
| PVA | Drug delivery; The vesicles can be evenly dispersed in PVA and are stable. The release can be triggered and the calcein diffuses afterwards quickly throughout the gel | [442] | |
| Xanthan | Drug delivery; The hydrogel shows a protective effect on vesicle integrity and leads to a slow release of the loaded model molecules from the polysaccharidic system; The vesicular structures may enhance the delivery of drug in the stratum corneum due to their specific constituents | [443] | |
| Micro-droplet | ALG | Drug delivery and bone tissue engineering; Facilitate the regional regulation of encapsulated cell fate; In situ formation of localized, sustained bioactive molecule delivery to encapsulate stem cells for therapeutic applications | [444] |
| Virus | ALG | Regenerative medicine; Significant improvement in cell attachment; Mimic the biological niche of a functional tissue; Localization, delivery, and differentiation of stem cells | [445] |
Poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA); Cholesterol-bearing pullulan (CHP); Gellan gum (GG); Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEI); Poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDMA); Hyaluronan/methyl cellulose (HAMC); Methylcellulose (MC); Polyamidoamine (PAMAM); Hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose derivatives (HPMC); 1,3-diphenylpropane-1,3-dione (dibenzoyl methane) (DBM); 2-(4-Benzoyl-3-hydroxyphenoxy)ethyl acrylate (BHPEA); N-acetylglucosamine(GlcNAc); Poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV); Poly(-lactic acid) (PLA); Polypyrrole (PPy); Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHHx); β-glycerophosphate disodium salt (GP); Propoxylated glyceryl triacylate (PET); Gellan xanthan (GX); Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA); Oligopeptide-terminated poly(beta-aminoester) (PβAE); Poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(e-caprolactone)-poly(ethylene glycol) (PECE); Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC); Poly(lactic acid)-b-poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(lactic acid) with acrylate end-groups (PEG-LA-DA); Dual-reverse thermosensitive hydrogel (DRTH); Poly(2-vinyl pyridine)-b-poly(acrylic acid)-b-poly(n-butyl methacrylate) (PVP-PAA-PBMA); PEG-(Poly(ε-caprolactone-co-trimethylene carbonate)) (PEG-P(CL-co-TMC)); Polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate (PEGDMA); Poly(ε-caprolactone)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ε-caprolactone) copolymer (PCEC); Poly(ethylene glycol)–poly(ε-caprolactone)-acryloyl chloride (PECA); Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-b-poly(2-(N,N-diisopropylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PEO-PDPAEMA); Polycarbonate (PC); Acryloyl group modified cholesterol-bearing pullulan (CHPOA); Dextrin (DEX); Cholesterol-bearing pullulan (CHP).